Improved Care Through Health Informatics:

Information technologies and information sciences are revolutionizing the healthcare system and deeply change the whole health landscape, the health culture. Care process reengineering, involvement of citizens and patients, continuity of care and health: these are only three of the numerous revolutions taking place for the first time in the history of medicine. This incredible movement is characterized by the double aspects of combining advances in technology and sciences, as well as deep socio-cultural changes. And this is precisely the heart of the challenge.

It is not enough to be spectators; we need to be, and we are, actors. Thus, it is necessary to move forward while building evidences, making sure that knowledge is sharable, that experiences are reproducible. Building evidences and using standards are thus important aspects of our work. It is necessary to keep the ultimate goal in mind: improving healthcare! And thus, all the time, directing our projects and activities towards this goal. Finally, because health determinants are local, because health threats are local, we have also to make sure that local characteristics are respected. To quote Ilias Iakovidis: “Medicine is a global science, and a local art”.